Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Boyne Appétit! initiative starts with Wine Wednesdays

The Boyne City Main Street program and Chamber of Commerce are collaborating on a new initiative to promote the exceptional restaurants and other food establishments in this area. Called "Boyne Appétit!," the program is run by a steering committee consisting chefs, managers and community volunteers interested in promoting the Boyne City area as the "foodie" destination in Northwest Michigan. They have developed a logo and aFacebook page. Soon you will be seeing window clings featuring the logo and website on the windows and doors of local restaurants and food businesses. The Boyne Appétit! Committee has been meeting since October and its coordinators are food writer and volunteer Cynthia Janssens and Alana Haley, the marketing manager of Porter Creek Fish House.

Boyne Appétit! will kick off in 2016 with Wine Wednesdays, set to begin January 6. On the first Wednesday of each month, from 5-7 p.m., local restaurants and wine purveyors will have wine tastings and serve complimentary appetizers. Those currently participating are the Boyne Pub, Café Sante, Northern Table, Porter Creek Fish House, Red Mesa Grill, Boyne River Inn, Lake Street Market and The Wine Emporium. Nate Jason from Café Sante and Mark Warner from Northern Table are coordinating Wine Wednesdays and inviting other area restaurants to participate. "We plan to issue a punch card and once participants have visited all of the restaurants, they will be eligible to win a prize," adds Warner.

A Boyne Appétit! website is being developed (www.boyneappetit.com) and will contain extensive information about each restaurant or retail business (everything from detailed hours to whether or not they cater) -- information that is not now available in any one place for visitors to our community. It is anticipated that in the spring a brochure will be printed containing all of this information to distribute to visitors to the Boyne City area. Funding is being sought to print this brochure. The initiative involves restaurants and retail food purveyors in Boyne City, Boyne Falls, Advance and Walloon Lake.